Joel- One Year

Joel, I just can't believe you are One.

It feels like forever ago that I was in the hospital labouring through the last few hours of pregnancy. I still remember you flip flopping and squirming and hiccuping like crazy. 

These days you still flip flop and squirm and hiccup. You also laugh and point and crawl and stand and are soooooo close to walking. 

You actually took your first steps not long after you began your twelfth month, but then you kind of chickened out for a while and have only just started again within the last few days. You're definitely confident standing still on your own now and you can take 2-3 steps. You think it is absolutely hilarious and are becoming more and more determined to conquer the skill. 

You're a real fan of slap-stick comedy and you love to hit yourself in the head and then crack up laughing. 

You have a few "words". In quotations because really only I can understand them. You say "fish", "Dada", "Bailey" (our cat), "Sam" (though you use this for all of your siblings), and I think "Opa". You also say "uh oh", and that one everyone can understand. 

You're starting to cut back on nursing just a little bit in the last week or so. I think you'll nurse a couple of times a day for a while still, though, and I will gladly continue to savor those moments with you.

You eat like a Grotenhuis, and by that I mean you either have two stomachs or a hollow leg, or something because I really don't know where you put all that food in your relatively tiny little body. You more or less just eat off of our plates now so I don't need to blend up your food anymore. You love raisins, kiwi, apples, dried apricots, rice, any and all meat, oranges, bananas, squash, oatmeal...actually I think the only thing that I've found that you don't like are bell peppers! 

You had a couple of nights last week that you slept straight through a solid 12-13 hours, but I think either learning to walk is disrupting your sleep again, or maybe another tooth. 

Speaking of teeth, you now have 9 of them, including two molars on the bottom. 

Your dad and I still think you look like Bryce's twin and it makes me incredibly curious to see how long that will continue. You look just like Bryce did at 1-year-old, so when I look at pictures of Bryce at 2, I feel like I get a little glimpse at your future. 

You are fairly similar to Bryce in personality as well, but maybe you'll be just a touch less daring? I can hope, can't I? 

You're able to climb up and down the stairs now and also love to pull the cushion off the chair and climb up and stare out the window. 

Joel- 11 Months

Here we are, just one month away from your first birthday.

Finally this last month, the learning curve has been a little slower. You're sleeping well enough for my taste, and still nursing regularly. 

You use the furniture to walk to wherever you want to be. Occasionally you'll stand unassisted without realizing that you've got two hands on a toy (which is always in your mouth) and none on the furniture in front of you. I think you'll be walking around your birthday sometime (same as both of your brothers), but we'll see. You're a pretty fast crawler, so maybe you'll be content with that for a while yet. 

Speaking of crawling, you've now mastered the stairs and love to sneak up them if the gate hasn't been put up yet. 

I continue to get the impression that you will be a rather cheeky little boy, hopefully in a more humorous, than troublesome way. 

You love to play Peek-A-Boo and have a real belly shaking laugh. Your siblings thoroughly enjoy discovering new ridiculous antics to get you going. 

Every single day I appreciate your ability to sleep easily and on the go. At Nana's on Sunday's you do best just to nap on me while I sit in the living room and chat. You never wake until you're ready to,  even amidst the crazy chaos of our big and busy family. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was nursing you before we left for preschool drop off, and you fell asleep. I got up, laid you down in the chair and you kept sleeping while I got the boys packed up and ready to go. I picked you up and brought you down to the van and buckled you up and you slept through it all. None of your siblings came anywhere close to being this easy when it came to naps. I'm sure it's a combination of your personality as well as just the simple fact that you're a fourth born and this is just a big part of your life. 

We all love you so much. I never imagined you as a part of my life, but now that you're here, I know that I could have never been me, we could have never been us, been complete, without you. 

You make us all lighter, more easy-going. You add more joy to our lives than I thought was possible.

Joel-10 Months

You have officially spent more time outside of my belly than in :)

A few big changes happened right after your tenth month started. You started confidently walking along furniture and stand while holding on to the ottoman (or couch, or chair, or wall, or.....) with just one hand, or sometimes even with no hands for a split second. You bend down to pick up toys, you move yourself between objects if they're close enough and, more recently, have started walking while holding hands without a little nudge from our feet behind yours. 

You switched from two naps a day, to just one two hour nap each day, which still kind of blows my mind. None of your siblings were under one year old before they switched to one nap, but I'm very thankful because it really does make our routine a lot easier with school drop-offs and pick-ups. 

You're starting to eat more solid food from our plates but still really enjoy your veggie/sweet potato/ham mush. (I'm not going to lie, I've cleaned your spoon a time or two, and it's delicious. You should consider yourself very lucky! Your siblings only ever had store bought baby food, and I can tell you from experience, you have the better end of the deal, for sure!)

You're sleeping in the same room as your brothers now (yes, all 3 boys are in one room and it works great) and you're sleeping really well. Last night you slept straight through until 7:30am, but it's more typical for you to wake up sometime between 4am and 5am to nurse and then go back to sleep until 7:00 or 7:30. I'm totally okay with that. Being a fourth child, you and I don't get a lot of time together, just you and I, and even if we are both in a bit of  sleepy daze, I still cherish those quiet moments with you.

Your personality is really blooming now and you love to laugh and play with your siblings. Sometimes we can really get you going and you'll laugh and laugh and your whole body shakes and you gasp for air. You love to be pushed around in the laundry basket or in the little tikes car outside.

You now wave to say hi and can say "Dada" and "Mama". I'm not sure how much intention it is with but you do look at Dad when I say "Joel can you say Dada". If I ask you where the fishies are or where Bailey is, you look straight at them. I love watching you learn and develop!

A Breath of Fresh Air

Today was such a fantastic day. I said to Jared tonight, "The parent side of me just feels so refreshed today. Like maybe we can all make it out of this 'raising a family' business alive." (Sane? Maybe asking too much...)

We spent the morning in our schools parking lot, bound and determined to get Sam up and cruising on two wheels. And she did it. 

Sam has always been incredibly timid. She's come such a long way that sometimes people don't believe me or think I must be exaggerating. But it is something that has caused many a struggle. Learning new things always takes a very large dosage of patience, persistence and firm encouragement. 

She had a moment when we started where she was getting weepy and a little self-pitying and I gently and firmly told her "Nope, not today, Sam. Put it away and let's do this. I know you can get this. I promise, once you get it, it's so easy, and you were so close last time we tried, I know we can do this today." 

And we got it.

The look of accomplishment on her face after--I tell you it is one of the most priceless moments as a parent. 

And on top of that, I felt so proud of myself for not getting frustrated with her and felt really connected with my Dad. It just brought back so many memories of Dad teaching me new things and I know that the firm encouragement is something I've definitely been on the other side of. 

We decided to celebrate by all going together to the FamilyFavourites movie presentation at the movie theater. It was only $10 for all six of us to get in and Joel thankfully nursed and slept through the entire thing. 

In any family, but especially one with four kids, the dynamics of 6 personalities under one roof can be difficult to balance. And in this "young family" stage, we compensate for that by switching up and splitting up. When one of us needs to run out to do an errand, two kids go with, two kids stay. When Nana asks for a play date, a different pair go each time. Arguing in the van starts to amp up? We switch the car seats around. 

But today there was almost no fighting or arguing and we were able to spend the whole day together. 

We came home, had a late lunch, and were having such a great day that we just packed up and ran out the door again and headed to the corn maze. 

I'm so thankful for this day. Such a bright light in the midst of tantrums, messy floors and poopy diapers.

Joel- 9 Months

I think it's safe to say that your 9th month has had the steepest learning curve of your short little life. You learned to get from your back or tummy onto your bum, you started crawling, I woke to find you standing in your crib one morning, and today you figured out how to clap. Wow!

You can stand on your feet while holding onto the furniture if we put you there, but I don't think it will be long before you're pulling yourself up on a regular basis. (Update...two days later, that happened.)

You also cut two new teeth (the two top front) during this past week. 

Overall, I'd say your sleep has been better over the last month, but the past week or so has definitely been reflective of your new teeth and learning curve. 

We've discovered a new love of butternut squash! You're also loving snacking on Cheerios these days, and still really love blueberries and bananas. You love both chicken and ham as well.

We're nursing just as often now and you definitely are not shy about letting me know when you want to nurse. You've made a few people quite uncomfortable at times haha!

We all love your smile, your hugs and your laughter. You brighten our lives, daily. We love you so much, Joel.

(Computer is still in the shop!!!)

Joel- 8 Months

Another month gone by. I can't believe how big you're getting.

We've finally had a decent improvement in your sleeping habits. Naps are now a solid two hours, more often than not, twice a day. At night you typically go down around 6 (much earlier than your other siblings ever did at your age) but you are quite flexible on nights when we are out later. Most nights you sleep through until around 3:30/4:00 now, nurse and go back to sleep until 6:30/7:00. If you do wake up, we let you cry it out and you're usually quiet again in under 5 minutes. You also are the first of our babies to transfer easily from the car seat to the crib when you fall asleep on the go, especially nice considering we trek up two flights of stairs to get to your crib. I love you.

You are a hefty eater! You've worked up to 5 cubes plus crackers and/or Cheerios per meal. We're still nursing together 4/5 times per day and I love these times with you. Making time to stop and snuggle with you a priority is a big deal in a family with 4 kids. 

You are so incredibly close to crawling. You've figured out all kinds of different ways to move your legs around and pivot to get to what you want. You've also finally started to stand up with our help and every now and then you try to pull yourself up on things. I think it will be a little while before you're officially pulling up on your own, but I think life with a baby gate is very near. 

You babble a lot. Lots of "mama mama" and "dada dada" but I don't think you know what you're saying yet. You still laugh easily and have a hearty chuckle when I tickle your ribs. 

You love to hug. When I snuggle you, you wrap both arms around my neck and pull me close.

I'm in denial about needing to dig out the 18 month clothing but it really, really needs to happen. Your poor toes are getting pretty squished at the ends of your sleepers (the few that don't have holes in them already) and we're stretching the fabric pretty good the get all the buttons done up on your diaper shirts.

Joel- 7 Months

The biggest change over the last month (oh, how I wish I could type "sleep" here), has been your diet. You've started solids, baby!

My body has done incredible things for you over the past 15 months. My body has grown and nourished you for as long as it can all on its own. I'm so, so proud of this. Promise me that you'll tell your wife one day how proud you are of her for nourishing and growing your babies. It's not easy, son.

I'm still working hard to feed you and, so far, have made all of your first foods at home, aside from some rice cereal and Mum-Mum crackers. You've tried peas, carrots, green beans, bananas, prunes, blueberries, mangoes, and apricots. Today you gobbled up 2 cubes of banana&blueberry, 4 cubes of mango all mixed with a little cereal, and 2 Mum-Mum crackers for lunch! I think it has been your favourite meal so far, but you also really enjoy your peas&carrots. I have to sneak the beans in with your peas&carrots for dinner, though. You need your fiber!

You continue to be a very happy baby. We often sit at the park after school and you are more than content to sit in the stroller and suck on your toes while watching the kids play. You laugh easily and can really bust a gut for the random things your siblings do to make you laugh.

Sleep. It's so off and on. Some nights we roll from side to side nursing through most of the night, others you have slept from 6pm until 5am, woken to nurse and then gone right back to sleep until 7:30.

Naps are good. You now go down easily, rarely fussing, and sleep for an hour or two, twice each day. 

We love you so much. So, so much, Joel.

Joel- 6 Months

Another month has gone by and this one always feels like a milestone month to me. 6 months old. It's been half a year since I first held you in my arms, since we first saw your face and breathed you in. 

We're coming into one of my favourite times. Your personality has already begun to emerge during the last month and I know that it only gets sweeter from here.

You laugh easily for your Dad and I, but even more so for your siblings. You smile all the time and seeing those 2 tiny teeth in your mouth is such a constant reminder of just how fleeting these days are. 

You're ticklish on the ribs and like your sister, you like to have hair in your hands at all times. Also like your sister, you sleep best with something always on your face--a little nerve racking for me. 

The only thing I'm going to say about night sleep is that you gave me three perfect nights in a row this month. Solid sleep until around 3:30/4:00 when you woke to nurse and drifted easily back to sleep until morning. Just three of them. Let's work on that shall we?

Naps are hit and miss most days. We started putting you down awake for naps this past month. Some days you cry for 5/10 minutes (I go up to soothe you every 5 minutes, usually only once or twice), other days you talk for a bit before drifting off. Sometimes you take 2 hour naps, other times only 40 minutes. I'm not too stressed out about it. You're transitioning to 2 naps/day and so I know that this stage is bound to be a bit up in the air.

You really have put rolling on hold for a while, but you're a pro at sitting and are pretty happy to just sit and play with toys or watch your brothers and sister. You also enjoy your jolly jumper and love your feet :)

You started eating rice cereal last week and you like it. We tried peas a couple of days ago and you're less certain about those. I've "made my own baby food" (quotations because there isn't much making involved. Boil & Blend. Why didn't I do this before?!) this time and frozen them in ice cube trays and today we tried just giving you a frozen cube of peas and you seemed to enjoy that. And we were all able to eat dinner with two hands so, win win!

You are a chatty baby and today you learned a new trick that's really cute so I'll have to try to catch it on video :)

We love you, Joel, and are so excited to learn more about you over these next few months especially!

Day 114

My first Throwback Thursday today. All four kids within their first day of life. Clockwise from top left: Samantha, Travis, Joel and Bryce. 

Joel- 5 Months

The past month has brought around some pretty big changes!

You got your first tooth a couple of weeks ago and its neighbour is not far behind. I think it will be through by the end of the weekend.

You officially started rolling this past week as well. Front to back, and back to front. I can't leave you alone on the floor for much longer. I think you'll pick up speed pretty quickly!

You're also quite determined to sit on your own and I don't think it will be very long! I think you might be in competition with Bryce for earliest crawler.

Sleep is not going a whole lot better this past month but I'm not really too surprised considering the massive learning curve coupled with a cold and teething. Typically you wake up a couple hours after going to sleep for the night, usually around 9:30 or 10:00 and we've found the only way to really get you back to sleep is to wrap you up. You seem to be jolting yourself awake, but I know from experience that it's pretty typical around this age. You wake to nurse around midnight and are usually up every 2 hours through the rest of the night. Hopefully it will change soon, but I won't be too surprised if it doesn't. 

Really, I'm finding that I'm pretty unmotivated to take drastic measures to change it. I guess knowing that you're our very last baby, makes it a lot more tolerable. One day you'll sleep, and for some reason, that's good enough for me. For now we lay in bed together and both doze off as you nurse, switch sides and repeat as you wake.

I love seeing you smile and making you laugh. I know these next months are going to fly by as you morph into a toddler right before my eyes. I'm soaking it up as best I can.

I love you!

Joel- 4 Months

Oh my boy. The last month still went better than I expected, for the most part, but it has had its rough patches.

The last week has been a rough one, though. I'm not sure if your teeth have started moving or if you're having a growth spurt (isn't it all a growth spurt?!) but most of the last week has been some pretty rough nights. I think I totalled about 15 hours of broken sleep over four consecutive nights last week. The next couple of nights were right back to normal, which is a good solid chunk of sleep from around 8:00 until 2:30/3:00am. And then last night was a little rough again. I thought I still had an amber necklace around for you, but when I found it, I realized the clasp is broken. So, I will pick up a new one for you very soon and am also planning on using essential oils this time around. 

What we've learned over the last month though is that you are easily the loudest of our babies. And not in a good way, my dear. Your siblings could yell, no question about it, but when you are unhappy, it really feels like a chainsaw to the brain. And you amp from 0-60 in about 10 seconds. It's not my favourite part about you.

What I do love are your smiles and your constant chatter. You love your family and smile easily for all of us. You're just starting to laugh at us now, too!

You rolled over for the first time last week, but I missed it! You stinker. I left you on your mat for some tummy time and ran down to help your sister and brothers get started on cleaning up some toys and came back up to find you on your back! Please save your other firsts for when I'm watching :)

You are a whopping 17 pounds and about 26 inches long. That's around the 90th percentile for both. And you're wearing size 9 month clothing! You're bigger than Bryce was at 6 months!

Joel- 3 Months

This past month seems to have gone by so slowly. Not in a bad way. It seems like your "2 month birthday" was so very long ago and like you've been a part of our family forever. 

You're still sleeping very well at night and are often up only once in the middle of the night to nurse and slip easily back to sleep. 

You smile very easily and seem to be trying very hard to laugh some days. You make me feel like I can't even describe. When your eyes settle on my face, you light up. For this very limited time, I get to be your whole world. How blessed am I?

You still nurse anywhere from 2-4 hours apart during the day, but you're much faster now, maybe 10 minutes. You still nap after almost every feed and unfortunately, don't spend very much time rolling around on the ground yet. It seems that you're always either nursing, sleeping or in the car seat. Life as a fourth born, baby!

And, finally, at 3 months old, you are 25 inches long (84th percentile) and have doubled your birth weight at 15 pounds, 7 ounces (90th percentile). Considering how much weight you lost in the first week after you were born, you've gained a massive 8.5 pounds in less than three months! Slow down, kid! You are not a small baby!

Joel- 2 Months

My, oh my, boy. As of yesterday, you're 12 pounds and 14 ounces. Holy cow! I think you just might be our fattest baby yet. And that's saying something. Not sure exactly what I'm doing differently this time around, but I seem to be producing same Grade A cream for you, and you're putting it to good use.

You continue to be quite an easy baby, crying only when hungry and fussing very little. You seem a little sensitive the day after I eat tomatoes or tomato sauce, but it's not too bad. Manageable with a little gripe water.

You sleep very well at night, waking only once, sometimes twice a night to nurse and then fall back asleep easily on your own.

You smile easily and you've laughed a couple of times in your sleep recently so maybe we'll get some giggles out of you soon.

You're head control is very strong now and you love to look around.

You're very soothed by music and singing and fall asleep during worship at church every time.

You love to be in the sling, and I love to carry you in it. We're close, you and I ;)

Hopefully this next month will still go smoothly, but I'm expecting some disruption around the 3 month mark as your teeth start to move under your gums and you start that steep learning curve!

A New Year

As 2013 is coming to a close, I'm feeling some very mixed emotions. 

On one hand, it's been a very rough year, and I'm welcoming that feeling of "starting fresh" that comes with the new year. On the other hand, leaving this year behind and heading into one that Dad will never be a part of is painful. 

But there's a lot to look forward to in 2014. With the closing of 2013 we also say goodbye to the newborn days, and head into the more exciting days of babyhood. I'm looking forward to watching Joel develop and getting those first glimpses at his personality. Each of our children are so unique and I'm excited to see which traits Joel will have and how they will all mesh together for him and how that will work in our family.

Samantha will be 6 very soon and I'm enjoying being witness to her development through kindergarten, both intellectually and socially. It's so hard to believe how painfully shy she once was when I watch her at school now. 

Travis is starting a more difficult and less desirable stage. Our boy who used to eat anything and drink an 8 ounce bottle of milk in 30 seconds (NO exaggeration...) has become an increasingly picky eater and is testing his boundaries. He's become very vocal and defiant. It's all a part of the learning curve and for the most part, we're finding a good balance between discipline and letting him be heard but we've had a few embarrassing moments in public and I'm sure there are a few more to come. But, he is still our sweet joker and makes us laugh daily. 

And Bryce. He can be a very typical youngest child at times. He's also testing his boundaries, but takes it out more on his siblings than his parents right now. He will often wait for Travis to put down a toy, and in one motion, snatch it from the ground, turn and bolt, simply because he knows it will make Travis mad and he'll take off after him. He is a happy-go-lucky boy who is always smiling (except when he's throwing a tantrum) and skipping around everywhere. 

How are you feeling heading into the new year? What are you looking forward to?

Joel- 1 Month

Our bouncing baby boy is already one month!

It's been a very good month; much better than I ever expected it would be. 

At two weeks, Joel was back up to his birthweight and in the next two weeks, he put on a full 2 pounds. At one month old he matched all his other siblings somewhere around 10 pounds. Other than maybe 6-8 ounces of formula during the first week, he's exclusively breast fed and I'm very proud of that! 

Joel still sleeps a lot, as newborns tend to do, but he also sleeps fairly well at night which is a big bonus. 

He is definitely well loved and cherished in our big family :)

We're looking forward to the Christmas season with our baby and spending more time with him awake hopefully soon ;)

Life As 6

Now that we're a couple of weeks in, I guess I should update on how we're doing.

I was definitely worried about having a newborn in this stage of life that we're in now, with two kids in school. But, Joel is an incredibly easy baby! It will make his life, and ours, much easier that he's so easy going! 

He did lose a big chunk of weight during his first few days, but after working hard the rest of that week to get his eating on track, he's doing great now. He nurses very well, falls asleep easily, has some longer stretches of sleep here and there, and never cries!

I've found myself wondering a few times how much of it really is that he's an easy baby and how much of it is being a fourth time Mom. Not that I'm an expert in any way, but simply that, by the fourth time around, you kind of know which things are worth worrying about, and which things to let go of.

Things like letting the baby fall asleep while nursing or being held vs not wanting them to become accustomed to sleeping while being held. Co-sleeping vs sleeping in a bassinet. Supplementing with formula vs being fed EXCLUSIVELY breast milk. (We supplemented for a few days until he was nursing a little better and was able to draw my milk from the back of my breast out properly, and then weaned him off of formula.)

As difficult as the newborn stage is (yes, even with an easy baby, it's still really hard!), I kind of love this sleepy, blissful stage of babyhood. It's something special, something that is impossible to duplicate in any way.

And as blissful as I am most days, I've had some hard days, too. The waves still come, rolling in from somewhere way offshore that I can't see or anticipate. Mornings when I sit staring at this beautiful new baby that Dad will never meet and tears just start falling. I wish so badly that Dad was still here to be a part of this. I'm sad that we don't have that photo, sad that Joel will never be tucked into that space in the crook of Dad's elbow, nestled between him and his Lay-Z-Boy.

But the days are manageable and for as many tears, there are twice as many smiles.

Birth Story

Ah, the birth story. The following is how we spent our very long, LONG Remembrance Day weekend. 

I sent the kids for a sleepover at Nana's on Friday night. One last date night and morning of rest before the baby came! 

Saturday morning I started having contractions, but now that we're on the other side of things, I'm thinking that they were likely some very tricky Braxton Hicks contractions. They were quite regular and by the end of our afternoon quiet time, they were about four and a half minutes apart, lasting about 45 seconds. So we thought that we may as well head back out to Abbotsford and get the kids settled back in at Nana's so we could avoid waking them all up in the middle of the night. 

Jared and I went for a walk in the evening and contractions seemed to be picking up in frequency and intensity while I was walking and slowing a little when I was resting. After consulting with my midwife, she thought that since it sounded like things were probably getting started, I should go lie down and catch some sleep while I could. 

We spent the night at Jared's parents place so that we were closer to the hospital that I wanted to deliver in, but by morning, contractions were gone. 

I called my midwife again and she agreed to come and do another membrane sweep and check to see if any progress had been made. Jared and I again spent the morning enjoying each others company and walking around a park while the kids went to church with my in-laws. I have to say, it was so nice to have that time together. It's so rare with three kids!

I still wasn't really contracting though so we just went about our normal Sunday.

We planned to take the kids home that night but, sure enough, about an hour before we planned on leaving, contractions started again. 

Since Jared had not slept great the night before, we decided that we still wanted to head home to our own bed, but agreed to leave the kids over again. 

We got home around 9pm and I went to sleep right away. I was woken up around 1am on Monday morning with noticeably more uncomfortable contractions and decided to get up and have a shower. I showered, did my hair, came downstairs and started walking through contractions. Around 2am, I called the midwife on call, Hailey, who also lives in Chilliwack, and she decided to come and check me before we all packed up and headed to Abbotsford. 

I was still only about 2cms dilated but Joel's heart rate was up between 170-180bpm and stayed there for the whole 10 minutes that Hailey listened. She said if his heart rate would have come down, we would have just stayed at home for a while, but because it didn't, she thought we should head in for a NST. She was sure to reassure us that it wasn't a big rush, just a precaution. 

We got to the hospital around 3am and Hailey said as I got on the bed, "Just watch, now baby's heart rate will be completely normal." And of course, it was. We stayed for only about a half an hour and then headed back to Jared's parents to wait it out so Jared could sleep a bit more. 

I took a Gravol to help me sleep a little bit, but by 5:30, I couldn't stay comfortable even with that anymore so we headed back in. 

Hailey checked me again and I was at 5cms so we settled into our room. I spent a lot of the next couple of hours in the shower. Joel was still sitting pretty high so I was having quite a bit of back pain and the hot water was very helpful. Hailey kept checking on me saying that I was so quiet and she was worried that I was going to be ready to push and not say anything!

After a couple of hours in the shower the back pain was starting to take its toll and I asked to have some Fentanyl. 

At 9am my midwives were on a shift change and Cheryl took over. Things kept going but not very quickly. 

I don't remember any of the other kids moving around very much while I was in labour. But, Joel wouldn't stop moving! He kept flipping from one side of my belly, all the way over to the other side but would not stay in the middle and come down. I remember Cheryl saying "What is this baby doing?!"

Basically, I had to fully dilate without the help of the pressure from Joel's head pushing down at all. It was not fun. And took a long time. 

At some point I started with the laughing gas and that helped relax me quite a bit.

I remember asking Jared if he had called my Mom yet, I think around noon sometime, and starting to think that she was going to miss baby's arrival altogether. Cheryl was starting to prep the room, warming up the baby station, etc. Between 12:45 and 1:15 I think I checked the clock at least every 5 minutes.

But. Still no baby! At some point, my water finally broke, but the sac broke from somewhere at the top and somehow his head was  holding in a big pocket of water leaving a good cushion around his head and giving me no urge to push. Cheryl ended up breaking my water again from the bottom.

After another couple of hours I was absolutely exhausted. The back labour was so painful and I was arching my back pretty violently with each contraction. I told Cheryl "I'm exhausted already, I don't have any energy left to push this baby out. I need everything from the waist down to be numb now, so however that has to happen, even if it's a C-Section, just do it. I can't do this anymore." She told me "Lisa, there is no way that I'm letting you have a C-Section for your last baby. You can do this, you're doing great."

She thought that maybe some Oxytocin might help, though. In my head was a very firm "NO!" I've had it before and it brings on the contractions so hard, and so fast, it's awful, and I was not having any of it.

In the end, as soon as the nurse walked in the room with the Oxytocin, I decided that was it and this baby was getting out NOW. Another couple of minutes and a couple of hard pushes and he was out.

I was so exhausted and so relieved that it was over, I didn't even ask if it was a boy or a girl! I remember Cheryl saying "Lisa, look!" and when I looked up there was definitely a little boy in front of my face! Even in my exhaustion, I know everyone could very clearly hear the complete shock in my voice when I said "Oh my God!"

He was laid on my chest and was eager to stretch his lungs.

Once again, I was glad to have my Mom with us. She was there with Samantha as well and it seems that she was meant to be both times because they were my two most difficult labours. Seeing me in so much pain and unable to help was very, very difficult for Jared and I think that the extra support was good for him to have as well.

Though my labour was long (Cheryl thinks that because Joel was being so stubborn and not coming down, my labour was 3-4 hours longer than it needed to be), I recovered quickly after, and Joel was super happy and healthy through all of it. His heart rate was 135bpm at the lowest, which is still considered very healthy, and even that was only once for a couple of minutes. He even had a good case of the hiccups near the end which had Cheryl and the nurses laughing. Baby hiccups during labour are...awkward, let me tell you.

Joel John Unruh

Born on November 11, 2013

At 3:22pm

7lbs14oz and 20 inches long 

He is more perfect than we ever could have imagined and everything I had no idea was missing from me. 

I've definitely got my hands full!

Baby Namer: 38 Weeks

Chloe, Rachel, Violet, April, Rene, Amy, Nicole, Abigail, Paige, Natalie, Margaret, Allison, Ella, Erin, Melody, Karen, Emma, Jamie, Lily, Jacqueline

Brayden, Alex, Jamie, Thomas, Joshua, Aaron, Gavin, Greyson, Eli, Trey, Graham, John, Joel, Rylan, Hunter, Simon, Nathaniel, Caleb, Ryder, James 

4 more names to go this week...

Margaret & Melody
 &
Trey & Ryder

Baby Poll RoundUp

Chrystal's guess:

Girl
November 11 (so she'll never have to go to school on her birthday! :)
2:17pm
8lbs 2oz
20.5 inches
Keeping quiet on the name ;) 

Yvonne's guess:

Girl
Nov. 12
5:18 am
7lbs 5 oz
19.5 inches
I'm also keeping quiet on the name. ;) 

Chelsea's guess:

Girl-Erin
November 12
2pm
7lbs 9oz
21 inches

Stephanie's guess:
Girl-Allison Rene (Joshua John if it's a boy)
November 12
4:24pm (right in between Melissa and I)
8lbs3oz
20in

My guess:

Girl
November 13
8:15pm
7lbs3oz
20in  

Melissa's (cousin) guess:
Girl- Allison (Joel if it's a boy)
November 14

Jenn's guess:

Boy-Joshua (Chloe if it is a girl)
nov 15
8am
7lbs 11oz
20cm

Michelle's guess:

Girl-Violet
November 18th
6:42pm
7 lbs 14 oz
20.5 inches

Kyra's guess:

Girl-Allison
November 20
12:30pm
7lbs8oz
19.5cms

Samantha's guess:

Girl-Violet
November 20
5:30pm
8lbs
21.5in